Countdown to Black Friday

Tallahassee, FL - We are just days away from Black Friday. The merchandise is ready. The holiday decor is out. Tuesday night, plenty of parking spaces sat empty at Governor's Square Mall. There were no lines wrapped around Best Buy in Tallahassee and it was the usual amount of shoppers at any given weeknight in the Target on Thomasville Road. It may be all quiet now, but behind the scenes retail workers are getting ready for a stampede of shoppers.

"We got a great crowd management plan in place," said Jim Prescott is a manager at the Target on Thomasville Road.

He says Target plans to open its doors for 26 hours straight starting at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving and not closing until 11 p.m. Friday.

"We'll have stations out front, metering folks in just to make sure there's not any issues with safety," said Prescott.

And to keep shoppers moving some stores like JCPenny are stepping up the technology.

"We'll be able to take care of customers right on the selling floor and ring them up via computers," said Ray Gray, the store leader at JCPenny.

All stores have their own 'go time' for Black Friday, ranging from 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night to hours into Friday morning. Many have signs out front keeping shoppers well informed of when they'll be ready to open their doors for the Black Friday rush.

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